Railway-car friction-gear.



G. A. JOHNSON.

RAILWAY CAR FRICTION GEAR APPLICATION men DEc.26. 191s.

INVENTOR. Barge Joiuza/z @FORGE A. IIISOIL 0I? CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR. T0 WILLIAM H. IVIINER, OF

. CHAZY, NEW YURK.

wa can. rammen-en.

jill. 9 59 zml. 'd'

Specilcation of Letters Patent.

Ipplilcation med December 26, 1916. Serial No. 138,797.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United, States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain newand useful Improvement in Railway-Car Friction-Gears, of whichv the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification.

rIhls invention relates to improvements in railway car friction gears.

One object of the invention is to provide a relatively cheap and eiiicient gear having high capacity with certain release.

Another object of the invention is to provide a friction gear wherein is employed a true, collapsible wedge, as distinguished froml so-called differential or combined multiple part main and auxiliary wedges.

' Another and more' specific object of the invention is to provide a collapsible wedge wherein are employed a series of wedges corresponding to the number of friction shoes and a non-wedging plug mounted between the wedges for the purpose of maintaining the latter in their fully expanded or operative position during the act of compression, the plug being so designed as to be readily releasable upon removal of the pressure, to thereby permit the wedges to collapse 'and relieve the pressure against the shoes.

In the drawing forming a part of this specifica-tion, Figure 1 is a longltudinal, sectional view of a draft' rigging showing my improvements in connection therewith, some parts being shown in sidel elevation. Fig. 2 is 'a frontend elevation of the improved gear. Fig. 3 is a vertical,v sectional view showing more particularly the friction elements and taken'on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail perspectives of one of the wedges and one of the friction shoes, respectively. And lFig. 6 is a sectional view, partly broken away, similar to Fig. 1 and illustrating another embodiment of the invention.

In said drawing, 10 denotes a center or draft sill to which are secured a rear stop l1 and front .Stop l2.. Coperating with the stops are followers 13 and 14, the latter being inclosed by a yoke 15 that is riveted or otherwise secured to the draw bar 16. The parts of the draft rigging are supported by means of a saddle plate 17. All of the foregoing described structure may be of standard or well known construction.

The improved friction gear, as shown, comprises a preferably cylindrical casting A having an integral friction shell portion 18, integral spring casing 19 and integral rear wall 20. Coperable with the friction shell 18 is a circularly arranged'series offriction shoes 21-21, each having an outer cylindrieal surface engaging the interior cylindrical surface of the shell. Each shoe 21, on its interior, is provided with a wedge face 22 arranged at a relatively acute angle with the axis of the gear. Coperable with the friction shoes and corresponding in number thereto is a series of wedge elements 23-23, each of the latter having an exterior wedge face 24 engaging the corresponding wedge face 22 of a friction shoe.v

AS clearly appears from Figs. 2, 3 and 5, Ithe wedge elements are prevented from circumferential movement with respect to the shoes by the flange portions 25 of the shoes. As appears from Fig. 1, the wedge elements 23 are extended forwardly of the ends of the friction shoes and on their inner faces extended stem 29 that passes through the Wedges and between the inner ends of the friction shoes. At its extreme inner end, the stem 29 is provided with a flange enlargement 30 against which bears the fon ward end of the inner coil 31 of the spring of the gear. The friction shoes 21 all'bear at their inner ends against a washer 32, the latter in lturn bearing against the forward end of the outer coil 33. of the spring of the gear. The lplug and wedge elements 23 (the latter being separated` along their radial faces as clearly indicated in Fig. 3), are so designed that the plug 27 merely holds the wedge elements in fully expanded opera# tive condition without any appreciable wedg- `ing action therewith, so that, upon comtransferred from the wedge elements 23 to 'the friction shoes through the wedge faces arranged atan acute angle to the axis of `thejgear and finally from the friction shoes radially to the friction shell. Inward movement of the friction elements relative to the friction shell is resisted by the two coils lof the spring', the outer coil against the friction shoes. and the inner coil against the plug. Upon removal. of the pressure, that is, during release, it is apparent that the plug 27 will be immediately disengaged from the wedge elements since there is only a loose engagement therebetween and not a wedging or tight frictional engagement. This disengagement of the plug with respect .to the wedge elements, permits the latter to immediately collapse and thus relieve, the pressure against the friction shoes. By this arrangement, I am enabled to obtain afriction 'gear of high capacity'since the-use of acute wedging angles is permitted and'at the same time eifecting a positive and certain release.

In the construction illustrated 'in Fig. 6, the arrangement of friction shell, shoes, washer against the shoes, and outer coil of the spring is the same as for the structure illustrated in the remaining figures. In this modified form, however, the wedge elements 123 are provided on their interior faces with du licate, inclined surfaces 124 and v124 an the plug 127 is correspondingly formed with duplicate, inclined surfaces 224 and 224. A washer 140 is also provided against which.the inner ends of the wedge elements 123 bear on one side and the outer end of the inner coil 131 of the spring on the other side. In order to hold all the parts in assembled relation, a connecting bolt 141 is provided that extends through the plug and the inner coil of the spring and is loosely connected ,to the rear end of the combined friction shell and spring casing in a well known manner. The operation of the construction shown in Fig. 6 is similar to that of the construction illustrated in the other figures and will be understood from the preceding description. In bothforms, the

` maarre angle between the engaging surfaces of the wedge elements and the plug is made relatively blunt in order to prevent the possi- Although I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred means of carrying out my invention, the same is merely descri tive and I contemplate all changes an modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

. 1. In a frictional shock absorbing mechanism, the combination with a friction shell, of friction shoes coperable with said shell and having interior wedge faces, a spring,

bility of any undesired wedging action.

a plurality of wedge elements coperable' with said shoes, and meanswithin said wedgeelements and coacting therewith to hold the wedge elements in expanded operative position during compressive action of the-mechanism and free to move with respect thereto during release, said means having portions overlappinghthe ends of the wedge` elements through w ich pressure is transmitted to said elements during compressive action.

2. In a frictional shock absorbin lmechanism, the combination with a friction shell, of a plurality of friction shoes, a spring, wedge elements coperable with said shoes and a plug extending within the shoes an adapted to hold the wedge elements in exy panded operative position during compressive action of the gear, said plug having a flange overlapping theends of said wedge elements and through which pressure is transferred to said elements during the compressive action of the mechanism, said plug eing movable independently of said elements during release to thereby permit the wedge elements to collapse.

3. In a frictional shock absorbing mechanism, the combination with a friction shell of friction shoes coperable with said shell and having interior wedge faces, a plurality of wedge elements coperable with `said shoes, and means extending within but substantially free from wedging action with respect to said wedge elements, said elements and means acting substantially as a solid wedge during compressive action of the mechanism, spring means for resisting movement of the friction shoes, and a spring directly engaging said means and adapted to move the latter independently of the wedge elements under release.

4. In a frictional shock absorbing mechanism. the combination with a frictlon shell,

of friction shoes coperable with said shell u vnnen L l `l.`\ ,l l M an: enter end overlapping theends o id elements, snd plug nnd elements neti snbn smntinllly ns e solid wee during compressive action of the nr, and n spring direeltl www the en end ed seid w adnped to im me ove n ebend@ indefendenely ed t e wedge ellen ding ne ense. l

1in Witness that I claim the fo day of Dee., 1916.

mg have hereunto subscribed my nnmme een., 

